Pros and cons of leaving your DAC on 24/7


I hate waiting for equipment to warm up. But I don't want to kill a components lifespan by leaving it on, if that's a danger. My Musical Fidelity V90 DAC takes a little while to sound its best. I think most DACs do.  I leave it on 24/7. Anyone have a problem doing the same? 
vinylfan62

Showing 3 responses by vinylfan62

Thanks for the feedback. I leave my vintage SS preamp and amp on all the time. But the DAC is newer technology and I didn't know if that made a difference. 
I do hate the wasted energy that is caused by leaving my equipment on. But as I stated in my OP, waiting for components to warm up is a problem for me. Some nights I may only have an hour or two where I can listen to music after work. Losing part of that time to warm up isn't ideal. I feel like the tiny wall wart power supply my DAC came with can't burn much juice. However, like many of you, I see a wall wart driving any of my audio gear and I'm immediately looking for a better PS solution. A linear PS will consume much more energy. So I will have to revisit the "always on" idea when I find a PS for the DAC. I have added several other components lately as well.  The consumption of energy used by leaving these things on 24/7 when I only listen to the system a few hours a day on average is becoming a more lopsided equation. 
I'm very pleased with the V90. I bought it as an experiment. I was just going to upgrade my CD player. But I realized I had other digital sources that all would benefit from a DAC. I would just use my CD as a transport.  I didn't know what to buy that would be inexpensive but worthwhile as a improvement over the CD player output. I figured I'll buy something inexpensive and if it does sound better, then I'll buy a real DAC. If it doesn't, then I didn't waste thousands. So I did a little research. There are tons of options in the $300- $500 price range. That made the decision hard. But then I found a V90 on eBay for a really good price and grabbed it. I'm impressed. It's far better than I expected. I don't feel like I need to run out and buy a "real" DAC at this point. I'm a vinyl guy that has spun about 40 CDs in the last few weeks. That would have been a years worth of CD listening previously. I'm sure I will get the bug and upgrade at some point, but first I'm thinking of experimenting with this DAC to see if it can improve. First up is a power supply. If I can't find a better ps I will make one. I have to think battery power to the DAC would offer improvements. Maybe a better cable than the Audioquest I'm using. Then I'll peek inside -but this kind of circuitry is foreign to me so maybe not. Anyway, I've proven to myself that I can enjoy digital. That's a good purchase in my book.